Satoru Iwata Thinks Nintendo Isn’t Suffering After 30 Years in the Console Business on the NES’ 30th Anniversary

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the Nintendo Famicom in Japan, the same console that would then become massively popular in the west under the name Nintendo Entertainment System or NES for short.

On the occasion of this historical birthday, during an interview with the Japanese newspaper Nikkei Shinbun Nintendo’s honcho Satoru Iwata expressed confidence in the future, strong of the company’s past:

Coming from thirty years in the home console business, I don’t think we’re suffering.

We’ll have to see if Iwata-san is right about this, especially in light of the upcoming big releases on the Wii U starting with Pikmin 3. Of course the 3DS continues to print money, so there’s no problem in that area, but the word on the street is that achieving the previously announced 100 billion Yen operating income target for this fiscal year will be difficult.

That said, happy birthday old dear NES of mine, you’re still working after thirty long years, so here’s to you!

Join the Discussion

Nintendo is going to have trouble. To even try and sell more Wii U’s they’ll have to cut the price by $100. It won’t compete with the PS4 when it isn’t much cheaper. That will mean even less money for Nintendo.

Andres

They have no reason to announce a price cut until they PRICE CUT. We still have this upcoming holiday and by then more select titles will be out.

If they announce a price cut now that will happen later, no one would be buying Wii U’s. Plus, Pikmin 3 is already out in Japan, soon to be out in Europe and then it will make its way to NA. After Pikmin we’ll start seeing The Wonderful 101, Mario 3D World and so on. I expect a price cut at the end of October.

Bob

Iwata-san lives in a bubble, and bubbles are beautiful until one day they just pop!

Bobs Master

When you take Microsoft’s shaft out of your butt, and Sony’s pipe out of your mouth, then we can talk.

Caribbean Brony

Nintendo has money in the bank. They aren’t going anywhere.

Super Squid

Hater’s will beg to differ. Nintendo will rise again, the games just have to come just like they must start to roll out on other systems. They have more haters than most though because third party support is crazy for Sony & Microsoft and the blame falls on Nintendo when companies develop slop for Nintendo systems. Make better games and those games will be purchased!

Michael Tsvery

Shenmue 1 & 2 HD will be released in the later part of 2014 early 2015 on the Wii U.